Thomas Pierret

Senior Researcher at CNRS-IREMAM, Aix-en-Provence. Tweet in private capacity. RT not endorsement. Header: A l'Est de Damas by Majd al-Dik & Nathalie Bontemps

[Thomas Pierret @ThomasPierret]

@jihadyazigi @SyriaStudies That's a pity, I was looking forward to listening to your talk!

[Thomas Pierret @ThomasPierret]

@kaczinskpilled One might object that it was politically convenient for Hezbollah to have some traitors to blame for their defeat in Syria. I frankly have no idea which version is correct, but the main source of this story has an established record of deception.

[Thomas Pierret @ThomasPierret]

Interesting take

[Gregory Waters @GregoryPWaters]

The narrative around Liwa al-Baqir pushed by some government figures and outsiders was exaggerated from day one in a very transparent attempt to prevent post-war violence between parts of the Aleppo Sunni community.

Ask any opposition fighter from Aleppo city and they will tell you what happened. Some Liwa al-Baqr fighters stayed home during the battle while others continued to fight for the regime. But going home was the extent of their 'support' - they were not some secret fifth column that participated in the liberation of Aleppo.

The Liwa al-Baqir story is no different than the tens of thousands of Sunni and Alawi soldiers who deserted during the final offensive, yet these men are not lauded by government leaders. The Sunni base easily sees through this political rhetoric and has not forgiven Liwa al-Baqir for their crimes during the revolution, nor any of the other Sunni militias and shabiha who fought for the regime.

[Thomas Pierret @ThomasPierret]

@aronlund So 3k is more consistent with an infantry force than a drones-only contingent

[Thomas Pierret @ThomasPierret]

@SHeydemann What kind or military advising could Syria possibly provide to KSA? I suspect their only added value is canon fodder.

[Thomas Pierret @ThomasPierret]

@Um_Samira Jordan has Petra, Wadi Rum, the Dead Sea, the Red Sea (i.e., nearly year-round summer weather), decades of stability, effective policing, excellent reputation in the West, much better infrastructure. Not easy to match.

[Thomas Pierret @ThomasPierret]

"Easily"? First requirement is to bring down IS cells activity to zero, because a single attack against tourists could destroy the industry overnight. They're still far from achieving it. Second, a significant part of pre-2011 tourists were Shia pilgrims who aren't coming back.

[S. Rifai @THE_47th]

Syria can easily generate +25% of its entire GDP from tourism in the next 5 years if the gov focuses on this sector.

In 2010, tourism industry was generating ~$6bln, despite all the neglect from the 60 year old Baathi dictatorship.

+5000 years of civilizations, mountains, forests, beaches, 6 UNESCO World Heritage sites and some of the oldest mosques, churches and world historic sites... all neglected.

Syria has 20,000 hotel rooms. For perspective: Charleston, South Carolina has more.

This is the quickest win that can come after stabilizing the country & investing in this sector.

[Thomas Pierret @ThomasPierret]

@Miyhnea @THE_47th I agree they should be the main target of the tourism industry.

[Thomas Pierret @ThomasPierret]

@JettGoldsmith The geographical distribution of Syria's heritage (Palmyra, Aphamia, Dead Cities, Bosra, etc.) doesn't make any of this very "easy".

[Thomas Pierret @ThomasPierret]

@JettGoldsmith A more apt comparison would the 1997 Luxor attack, which dealt a severe blow to Egypt's tourism industry.

[Thomas Pierret @ThomasPierret]

@Um_Samira Since we're talking about numbers and $$, I don't think it's irrelevant. The kind of elite/cultural tourism that concerns Syria cannot easily be scaled up. I strongly doubt Syria can achieve more than Jordan, where the share of tourism in the GDP topped at c. 15%.

[Thomas Pierret @ThomasPierret]

@JoelVeldkamp You're right, some will come back, but probably in much smaller numbers than in the past. Encouraging this would be politically risky for Syrian authorities.

[Thomas Pierret @ThomasPierret]

@THE_47th Sorry I missed that. But anyway, given regional instability, I'm not sure this should be a priority for Syrian economy.

[Thomas Pierret @ThomasPierret]

@D1mashqi You don't make much money by relying only on adventurous people.

[Thomas Pierret @ThomasPierret]

@RashaAlAqeedi @safieddine00 Not sure why anyone is even discussing this. In Western polities, "Islamist" has become a racist codename for "Arab/Muslim". Even Arab Christians are called "Islamists" by our own fascist pundits here in France.

[Thomas Pierret @ThomasPierret]

Correction: "84% consider Iranian retaliations *against Israel* during the war were justified"

[Thomas Pierret @ThomasPierret]

Some noticeable figures here:
- 78% of the respondents (thus excluding non-respondent surveyed persons) support a democratic system defined as political pluralism and government accountability
- only 9% support a non-competitive Islamic regime

[S. Rifai @THE_47th]

What seems to be the largest public opinion survey in #Syria’s history just dropped.

3,600 Syrians. Every governorate. 500+ questions. Fieldwork Sept 28 to Oct 15, 2026. Margin of error ±2-3%.

What Syrians actually want, in their own numbers 🧵

https://t.co/KRsm1cHk3t

[Thomas Pierret @ThomasPierret]

-75% consider Palestine concerns all Arabs, not just Palestinians
- 82% oppose recognising Israel
- although Iran isn't popular among respondents, 84% consider Iranian retaliations during the war were justified; conversely 78% consider retaliations against Arab countries weren't

[Thomas Pierret @ThomasPierret]

Finally, when assessing ability to criticize the government without fear on a 0-10 scale, mean response is 6.4